Internal documents from the German government reveal that their IT experts consider Windows 8 a security risk. They warn for security and espionage risks on Microsoft&amp;rsquo;s latest operating syst...

Now this is some news! Me likey. Wonder if this came from Snowden or whether the germans were thinking about this before all the havoc on spying. Anyway, I wouldn't mind using Linux for everything myself. The only thing that's keeping me using M$ products are the games. But the question remains the same I guess. Which Linux/Unix distributions can you fully trust these days?The days when you can't trust no one.. (this reminded me of X-files )

More scare mongering. Why would anyone need to spy on you, or take control of your PC? Plus the article sounds like it's talking about pre built PC's and not custom built ones.

"The only people left who really believe that Windows has a backdoor to the NSA are the same kinds of people who believe Facebook, Google, Apple, Yahoo, and the rest of the named seven major companies, gave "direct access" to their systems to the NSA  which they didn't, as they continue to fight in the courts to reveal documents that they know exonerates them from any allegations made by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden".

The same reasons people create computer viruses, malware, keyloggers, and spyware.

Which ironically, and I can't force this enough, is so much more of a real threat than if any government (of any nation) spying could honestly give two ****s of the general population and their computers.

Which ironically, and I can't force this enough, is so much more of a real threat than if any government (of any nation) spying could honestly give two ****s of the general population and their computers.

With a world population of 7 Billion, you'd really have to stand out.

I agree with you 100% on that. People seem far to worried about what a government can or can't do. Forgetting the real threats.

Now it's almost done I guess in terms of bad reputation. In fact Windows 8 is no different than win7. Same perf., stability or security, or even better according to Microsoft. Many people aren't pro about software. Many of them haven't tried win8 yet. They just read "Win8 sucks!" or sth. like that on the net. Just the headlines I mean. When they see a sentence "Win8 is a risk" said by a government then it's done for them. Just like intel said " we won't upgrage to Vista, we'll continue with XP". Microsoft tried hard after that with service packs and Mojave experiment but it was too late, only Win 7 saved them.

More scare mongering. Why would anyone need to spy on you, or take control of your PC?

Remember, half of the population have IQ below the average . People do crazy, irrational and immoral things all the time on the massive scale and a lot of them work for the government. There is a reason why countries with strong military power are killing innocent people in other countries for ages now. Some people would do anything to get advantage over others. You can also ask why would anyone believe in a imaginary friend in the sky? Question, which better represents reality, must start with "Why so many...?"

I understand that moving on from Microsoft platform because of the backdoor/NSA thing is logical from government secrecy/security standpoint, but their government workers have to be able to escape the traps of social engineering.
I mean, something like this is already in the wild for the GNU/Linux platform.

Or maybe German government 'IT experts' couldn't really afford the time to make a filter in the firewall for their own (government) network when all they need to do is making a whitelist.
I'll be laughing if one of their departments use any of Google services (like GMail or Docs) for their work.

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Would the US government use Win 8 to spy on foreign diplomats? Almost absolutely. The government has been spying on our allies and enemies alike for over 75 years. It's so much easier than sending a guy to spy on them from across the street in a hotel. Plus, I would imagine this would be more to gather e-mails and documents. If they wanted to record a meeting they'd probably still use the ol laser-on-the-window method.

Do they care about me or anybody on this forum? They're pretty paranoid and efficient wasters of their own time if they do. Unless anybody here is on the FBI's most wanted list I don't think they have anything to worry about. And if you are, you have bigger things to worry about than if Win 8 is watching you.

Now this is some news! Me likey. Wonder if this came from Snowden or whether the germans were thinking about this before all the havoc on spying. Anyway, I wouldn't mind using Linux for everything myself. The only thing that's keeping me using M$ products are the games. But the question remains the same I guess. Which Linux/Unix distributions can you fully trust these days?The days when you can't trust no one.. (this reminded me of X-files )

The major difference with Linux is it's open source, so you're allowed to change it to be at the security level you prefer. Also, get a barebone distro like debian or Arch and you get to pick what goes in and what doesn't, so the OS overall is only as secure as you make it to be. Ubuntu is technically insecure due to it's amazon and cloud service stuff.

Nobody will take control of your pc or spy on you.
Maybe if you are a multimillionaire or have secret files and you work for the government.
What's the last time you heard of someone complaining about being spied?
Nobody cares about your music and porn.

If someone really wants to take control of your pc and know how things work, firewalls and anti-virus donīt really matter. Those programs are good to the little malicious codes that come from porn sites and emails though.

did some even read teh whole text ???
IM in germany, and the news here are a bit different..
Anyway, for teh ones, that are 1. to stupid to read, or to lazy..heres an little nice Video explaining this trusted chip and why it isnt good for CONSUMER!

if u read them and UNDERSTAND this, also read some comments, u will see it is about something else..U guys sometimes make me sick..The people saying, i have nothing to hide are worst of all..

You guys really wanna live in a world where teh industry says whats good and bad..whats right and wrong?

Jeeeez.......(even the universitys in germany, IT firms and so on are taking this serious..Amerika is going crazy these days..(of course i mean the goverment, Multimillion buisnesses, etc, NOT the normal Person..i have Familly in America too..so..)

They certianly have a disproportionate view of the world and don't seem keen to embrace other nations for who they are, trying to shape them into their way of thinking.

Population of the entire North American continent is barely 400 million, compared to Europe which is 650(ish - citation needed) but to talk to someone in politics you'd think the USA constitutes the entire planet and therefore anyone not from there must be made to think as they do, because they are the dominant apex. It's quite perplexing and baffling to witness. My own country is pretty bad for this also, and I see a great many similarities in thought process and belief systems, when the reality is, essentially, we all sleep under the same stars.

On topic, yes; operating systems will never fully protect you. Welcome to workin with machines that were designed by human beings. As humans are flawed, so are machines.

Agree, they are like children who are not smart enough to understand that they are abused. So, I understand when teenagers say that, but when grown ups express such opinions then it means that they finally turned into grey mass with slave mentality who have no ambitions left and are not planing to stand up for anything (which leads to competition and possible enemies).

did some even read teh whole text ???
IM in germany, and the news here are a bit different..
Anyway, for teh ones, that are 1. to stupid to read, or to lazy..heres an little nice Video explaining this trusted chip and why it isnt good for CONSUMER!

Also, im gonna link to an news site in germany. yeah its german, but i think u can find ur way to read it in EN..

if u read them and UNDERSTAND this, also read some comments, u will see it is about something else..U guys sometimes make me sick..The people saying, i have nothing to hide are worst of all..

You guys really wanna live in a world where teh industry says whats good and bad..whats right and wrong?

Jeeeez.......(even the universitys in germany, IT firms and so on are taking this serious..Amerika is going crazy these days..

The industry already says what's good and bad. Where have you been?

Doesn't matter what country you live in. Everyone is a slave to gov't.

No.... Only real difference between "these days" and days past is that secrets are now getting out.

Seems most, if not all, of this forum supports "trusted computing" in one way or another. Most of us are using Intel processors while Intel is a major supporter of "trusted computing".... Those not using Intel, are using AMD...who is also a major supporter of "trusted computing". Most of us are also running Windows....while Microsoft is among the biggest supporters of "trusted computing"...

They certianly have a disproportionate view of the world and don't seem keen to embrace other nations for who they are, trying to shape them into their way of thinking.

Population of the entire North American continent is barely 400 million, compared to Europe which is 650(ish - citation needed) but to talk to someone in politics you'd think the USA constitutes the entire planet and therefore anyone not from there must be made to think as they do, because they are the dominant apex. It's quite perplexing and baffling to witness. My own country is pretty bad for this also, and I see a great many similarities in thought process and belief systems, when the reality is, essentially, we all sleep under the same stars.

On topic, yes; operating systems will never fully protect you. Welcome to workin with machines that were designed by human beings. As humans are flawed, so are machines.

I maybe reading too far into your post, but it seems to me that you're over-generalizing here. Not all "Ameircans" have such a thought. Some of us actually like the fact that not everyone or every country is the same. Would make the world extremely boring if that were the case. Some of us actually like learning about other countries and cultures....even though the US Gov't (and book writers/publishers) makes it rather hard. Hell, that's part of why I joined this forum. The vast wealth of different people from different countries and cultures.

The population of the US alone is over 316.5 (316,511,000) million people. The reported population of Mexico is roughly 112.3 million people. The reported population of Canada is 34.48 million people. That's over 463.8 million people on the North American continent.... That hardly classifies as "barely 400 million"